Hope has a Place
by merlinstalker
Summary: Inuyasha's failing high school. Kagome's depressed. Sesshomaru's getting a divorce. And Kikyou's in serious trouble...Life just isn't fair...Please Read and Review. first fanfic
1. Chapter 1

Well, this is my first fanfic. Hopefully it will be enjoyable. Please read and review. It will be very helpful for me to know what you think about it. I would like to say the first chapter will be up soon but I can't. I'm in school right now so it might be a while before the next chapter is out butI have an outline for it. I know. I know. The title isn't very orignial but I think it fits. I guess I should say that I don't own Inuyasha but I pretty sure you already knew that. Well, on with the show...

Fumbling Towards Ecstasy

By: merlinstalker

_"What we call 'Progress' is the exchange of one nuisance for another nuisance."_

_-Havelock Ellis (1859-1939)_

Prelude

The mid-afternoon summer sun glared through the open window onto a small gathering. A fair-haired boy slouched grumpily in his chair and glared into the line of sagging bookcases along the wall. The boy's wardrobe was an informal one with a red shirt and torn cut-off shorts. Next to him, his mother sat stiffly in an unforgiving wooden chair. Her long shiny black hair was pulled into a messy bun. Her outfit was more formal with a white silk blouse and navy blue business skirt. Her worried hazel eyes was a strange contrast to her son's golden sullen ones.

In front of them, behind a desk, sat an old woman that seemed unconcerned with their discomfort. The fair-haired boy pointedly avoided looking at the old woman and scrutinized the bookcases behind her. They sagged beneath the heavy tomes that filled their shelves. And in some distance way, the boy felt sorry for them. To the left of them a small rotating fan was the only noise in the room. It was small defense against the heat and he swore he could feel the right side of his face sizzle.

The old woman flipped quietly through a folder on her desk; her one beady eye scrutinized the text, while a black eye patch covered the other. The boy frowned. _How had the old bat lost her eye anyway? It wasn't exactly like her line of work was that dangerous._ Several scenarios wandered through his brain. _Cafeteria food fight gone wrong? Tripped and fell, and happened to lose an eye in the process?_ Or perhaps it was something more sinister. Suddenly an image of an over-stressed student, pushed to his last limits, rammed a ruler into the woman's eye.

The old woman looked up from her papers and eyed the faraway look on the boy's face.

"Thinking ill thoughts Mr. Inuyasha?"

Startled, Inuyasha answered too quickly "No Ms. Kaede,"

Kaede snorted. Inuyasha scowled at the bookcase. A thick silence settled between the three. Inuyasha briefly wondered if he kept sweating at his current rate if he would melt into a puddle. Some how it seemed like a better situation then he was in now.

"I'm sorry for the heat, Mrs. Inutaisho," Ms. Kaede's grave voice broke the silence of the whirling fan. "I've been told the air conditioning should be working when school starts." Inuyasha's brooding golden eyes glanced over Kaede's wrinkled face to his mother's smooth worried one.

"This is stupid," Inuyasha muttered finding the bookcase fascinating again. Kaede's beady eye skewered the broody boy.

"Failing high school is not stupid Mr. Inuyasha,"

Inuyasha's face darkened and he slouched further in his chair.

"Ms. Kaede what can be done now?" Izayoi leaned forward worry etched in her brow as her dark eyes searched for answers. Kaede sighed and fingered the manila folder on her desk.

"As you know Mrs. Inutaisho we have high standards here at Spring Valley High. Your son at the moment has failed to meet these standards. He barely passed his freshman year with four Ds and two Fs. He fared barely better in summer school and has just managed to stay within the standards of this school,"

"You finished yet," Inuyasha growled.

"Inuyasha," Izayoi commanded and pleaded her son. Inuyasha scooted further down his chair and stared gloomily out a window.

"Mrs. Inutaisho…"

"Please, Ms. Kaede call me Izayoi,"

"Mrs. Izayoi," Kaede sighed. "If your son's grades do not improve he will fail out of school."

"Oh dear," Izayoi frowned.

"I do not believe your son is incapable of succeeding he just needs some…assistance,"

Inuyasha sat up. His golden eyes glared suspiciously at the old woman.

"What sort of assistance?" Izayoi asked.

Kaede stood up slowly and her chair creaked with the movement. She shuffled over to the gray filing cabinet behind her desk and pulled a handful of folders out.

"We have here at Spring Valley an Honor Society. Students enrolled in the Honor Society are required to tutor other students for a certain number of hours to remain in the honor program."

"I don't need help from a nerd! " Inuyasha bellowed.

"This nerd, Mr. Inuyasha, may save you from failing out of school,"

Inuyasha opened his mouth but his mother bet him to it.

"Do you know who will tutor my son?" Izayoi leaned forward placing a hand on her son's arm.

Kaede nodded. "I have a couple of students in mind but I'll have to met with them separately when school starts to see if their schedules will allow for the extensive tutoring your son will require,"

Inuyasha crossed his arms and slouched again. "I told you this was stupid,"


	2. Chapter 2

Wow, it's been a really long time since I've worked on this. I hadn't forgotten about it.There was just too much school and work at once. Also, the story I had in mind under went many changes. I'm not really all that happy with this chapter it just never seemed to click with me. It was written in pieces months apart from each other and hopefully it flows better than it originally did. I see this chapter being redone at a later time. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. : )

**Hope has a Place**

By: merlinstalker

_"There is no pain as great as the memory of joy in present grief."_

_--Aeschylus_

Chapter 1

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Kagome Higurashi opened her brown eyes slowly. It was time to get up. She moaned and turned over. Any moment her alarm clock would go off filling her room with it annoying presence. _What's worse, getting up myself or having an alarm clock tell me to?_ With a groan, Kagome pushed herself up to a sitting position. She kicked the covers off roughly and stumbled blindly into her bathroom ignoring the mirror above the sink. She wasn't overly fond of her appearance most of the time so there was no reason to twist the knife this early. The shower's warm water was a lifeline. She sighed and leaned against the shower stall's cool wall. Warm water trickled down her face. She needed to get going. She turned off the water and left the warm comforting steam to dress. Ten minutes later she stood in front of her room's mirror, dry and dressed. She brushed her raven hair in silence.

She pulled her hair back and tied it with a white strip of cloth. All she needed now was a pair of sandals and her outfit would be complete. She stared at herself in the mirror. She wore the traditional red and white garb of a shrine priestess. When she was younger, she hated to dress up like this. She thought it was stupid. A smile tugged at the edges of her mouth. Suddenly she was a little girl again…

_She stomped her feet and yelled at her mother about why she had to wear the stupid itchy costume. Her mother tugged and fitted the strange itchy costume and bore her daughter's temper with a patience that infuriated the six year old Kagome. She'd clenched her fists and glared at her sandal feet in hopes that suddenly the outfit would burst into flames. _

_It never did._

_And then her father, on his way downstairs, paused by her bedroom door and smiled._

_"Oh my where did this enchanting miko come from! Surely she has something more important to do then to be here like…slaying youkai," her father winked at her mother. Her mother smiled brightly, her eyes twinkling with amusement, and her father's smile only widen……a smile she didn't see anymore…_

Reality crashed into her memory and the smile faded from her lips.

Kagome sucked her breath in and turned sharply from the mirror. She slipped her feet into sandals and went downstairs. She crept outside careful to close the door softly to not wake her still sleeping family. She paused by the kitchen and wondered if she should get something to eat. She could hear her mother's scolding her to be healthy but the summer's heat always diminished her appetite. She left the house and onto her family's shrine. A shy sun peaked above the horizon.

She didn't have to get up this early but she liked it. It gave her a chance to see daylight without her family. The shrine always had a peaceful air about it. She always felt secure in its serenity. She used to hate getting up so early for daily chores around the shrine particularly since she had to dress as the shrine priestess to do them.

_It's for the tourist,_ her grandfather would say and dismiss her irritation with a wave of his hand.

But now she didn't mind so much since it was a chance to be someone else for a moment. It was a moment in the morning that she cherished for the past three months.

It allowed her to think without the fear of her mother or grandfather passing by with a worried look at her. She was tired of her grandfather's constrained looks, her mother's forced smiles, worrying shining in her eyes. _She was just sick of it…_

With a bowed head she crossed the shrine. Her sandals scrapping against the ground was the only reminder that she existed. After her father's funeral, she threw herself in her work at the shrine in attempt to forget everything.

It let her forget.

For just a moment. But then, the moment never lasted, and once again she was Kagome Higurashi….

Kagome Higurashi who dressed up for her family's shrine…

Kagome Higurashi who went to high school…

Kagome Higurashi who hated to get up early…

Kagome Higurashi who had a dead father…

She didn't really want to forget…but she did…but she didn't.

She wanted to forget and to remember everything at once.

She wanted to remember.

She wanted to remember his smile, the little crow's feet crowding around his eyes, his white pearly teeth, the way his eyebrows rose in amusement, the way he always read the morning paper before breakfast, the way he hated coffee, the way he fell asleep on couch….

The familiar tight squeeze in her chest started. She stopped and stared at her feet. She wouldn't cry. She cried too much already. She should be done with tears, done with this grief, but she couldn't erase it, couldn't get rid of it.

She lifted her head and blinked in surprise as she heard quiet rustling of branches. Besides her, forbidding and uncaring, the Sacred Tree stood.

She stared at it wondering if it held some great dark secret she should know. She remembered the day they buried him. She remembered standing in front of this tree. She hated it. She wanted to kick it, scream at it for remaining unaffected by the world around it.

Kagome stared at the ancient tree with unfocused eyes. Tiny white flowers danced gracefully as the wind rippled through its leafy branches. Frozen, Kagome felt the familiar sting rise in her eyes.

He'd never see these flowers again.

He loved the Sacred Tree's petals.

He was gone. Really, really gone. The understanding of it sank in to her bones making her feel heavy and worn. She felt lost in her little red and white miko outfit that he loved.

A sudden harsh wind cut through the courtyard. The Sacred Tree's leaves and branches snapped and rattled together in a cacophonic roar. The wind mercilessly ripped white petals from their home and they fluttered and danced a strange rhythm in the air. Many were swept away down the steep steps of the shrine, others drifted towards the old shrine's well, a few accepted their fate and landed desponded at the roots of the Sacred Tree, reluctant to stray far, then, one or two hopeful in their pursuit, landed amongst shiny raven locks.

Kagome stared dejectedly ahead, a dull and devoid look in her eyes. Ignorant of their precious hold and desperate attempt to grasp onto the lives ripped from them Kagome turned sharply on her heel, dislodging the white flowers from her silky strands to fall unwanted to the ground.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Hope has a Place**

By: merlinstalker

"Turbulence is life force. It is opportunity. Let's love turbulence and use it for change."

--Ramsay Clark

Chapter 2

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Kagura Onigumi had often been called a tease.

A term she earned well. She held great pride in this ability; after all, it often got her what she wanted.

Especially when it came to men.

Men had to be broken and molded beneath her fingers to fit her desires. She especially loved stubborn men. The game was always more enjoyable when the hunted resisted. Though it seemed with one particular stubborn man she had out lived her usefulness.

Kagura's reddish brown eyes peered over the glossy magazine at her soon to be ex-husband. They sat on opposites sides of a long conference table. As usual the permanently bored expression was planted on his features; his narrowed golden eyes stared at some distance spot behind her. His long silver hair was free from binding and lay on his shoulders traveling down his back. He wore a black Armani suit and a red silk tie tucked discretely down his jacket.

He was posed, perfected, and completely rigid.

Next to Sesshomaru sat a short man in his late thirties with greasy black hair and green eyes. His name was Jaken Kimura, Sesshomaru's personal attendant or toady as Kagura liked to think. Kagura red-brown eyes glared at the man and she smirked in satisfaction as the man shifted uncomfortably under gaze. Jaken Kimura had worked for Sesshomaru for several years. How exactly the sniveling little man had managed to convince Sesshomaru to hire him was a mystery to her. The fact that Jaken would do anything that Sesshomaru told him to do was probably the only reason that she could think.

Kagura didn't doubt that Jaken had encouraged her husband to go ahead with the divorce. Not that Sesshomaru listened to Jaken's suggestions but Kagura remembered hearing Jaken's complaints about her. The little man amused her really; after all, he was under the great impression that he was an indispensable asset to Sesshomaru.

Kagura snorted and looked at her magazine again. What the little man would soon discover if he hadn't already was that no one was indispensable to Sesshomaru.

She wasn't surprised by the sudden turn of events. She knew sooner or later that Sesshomaru would grow tired of her. It was inevitable. Just as she grew tired of all of her "amusements" as Sesshomaru described her flings.

Kagura was never under the illusion that she had Sesshomaru under her thumb. Because of her _flings_, she had very useful resources in the business world, and as such, she became a very useful resource, one that Sesshomaru would never pass by. So their marriage had been one of convenience.

Sesshomaru had been perfectly clear on the arrangements of their marriage. She provided him with useful and pertinent information as well as contacts, and she would get his formidable last name and a very substantial allowance.

Though she couldn't help but wonder what particular event had pushed Sesshomaru to a divorce. _Hmmm…the pool boy…no…that intern…no, no…ahh perhaps the client…_

Kagura sniffed dignity. He hadn't been a particularly good client. _No, nor was he particular good at other things…_

If Sesshomaru was divorcing her for him, she wished it had been for a better _fling_.

Mentally Kagura shrugged. _Oh, well…_

_Ten years…_

Kagura was surprised that their marriage had lasted that long. _Well, at least she got a ten-year shopping spree out of it. _

A throat being cleared interrupted Kagura's thoughts and she lowered her magazine to look at the decrepit human being at the end of the conference table.

The decrepit human being was Myouga Maeda, a short balding man with bushy white eyebrows and a nervous disposition. He had worked for the Inutaisho family for most of his career. Sesshomaru's father had met Myouga as a young man in Japan and hired him for his unique talents in the art of glib. At the present the old lawyer had the distinct pleasure of running the divorce proceedings for Mr. Inutaisho's eldest son.

Myouga cleared his throat again and Sesshomaru shifted his golden eyes to the old lawyer. Myouga shifted nervously and flipped through his papers.

"The soon to be ex-Mrs. Inutaisho will requlinsh the use of her ex-husband's name and will return to her maiden name of Onigumi in exchange for a $50,000 allowance each month from her ex-husband, and the custody of the child, Rin Inutaisho, will remain with her father Sesshomaru Inutaisho. Are these terms agreed on?"

Myouga paused and presented the document to Kagura. After a minute passed with no sign of Kagura accepting it Myouga swallowed hard and glanced between Kagura and Sesshomaru. Kagura ran her thumb along the magazine's edge as her reddish brown eyes stared into her ex-husband's golden ones.

_So this was it…_

She had considered fighting Sesshomaru for the custody of their child. Not that she really wanted the kid but to annoy her husband one last time had been to hard to resist. Kagura continued to glare at her husband in hopes to irritate him but his golden eyes remained passive.

Jaken shifted restless next to his boss. Myouga cleared his throat again; Kagura's red lips quirked in amusement.

"Very well," Kagura snatched the pen and legal document from Myouga. She scrawled her signature next to the bright red 'x'. Myouga released a breath he had been holding and his body lost its rigidness. Kagura stood up and glared down at the balding lawyer.

"Are we done?" she asked

"Yes…" Myouga began

"Good I'll be expecting my check in a few weeks," Kagura turned to leave but paused as she opened the office door. She glanced sidewise over her shoulder with a smirk, her red brown eyes mischievous.

"See you around, _Mr._ Inutaisho,"

Sesshomaru watched indifferent as his ex-wife walked out of his life. Sesshomaru stood up and straightened out his suit's invisible wrinkles.

"Ha, good riddance to that over-zealous golddig—", Jaken Kimura scrambled to his feet, his green eyes bright.

"Jaken, bring around the car," Sesshomaru instructed.

"Y-yes, Mr. Inutaisho," Jaken stammered and hurried out.

Sesshomaru turned his golden gaze to Myouga.

"Is everything taken care of?"

The old lawyer nodded. "Everything that needed to be signed is right here. Once I record this and file it away, you'll be legally divorced and Rin will be yours. Everything's in order,"

"Good, see that it stays that way," Sesshomaru turned to leave.

Sesshomaru left the conference room and his father's nervous lawyer behind. He walked towards the stainless steel elevators ignoring the curious glances from various employees. He pushed the down button and stared at his reflection in the glossy gray tones of the elevator doors. His face was pale and smooth with high check bones and a slender nose. His features had often been described to him as almost delicate. His waist length silver-white hair was free from binding and cascaded down his back and shoulders. A contrast to his pale features was his eyes. They were a distinct golden hue. The eyes of a predator someone once told him.

As one of the top most powerful and wealthiest men in the nation he figured he earned the titled. The elevator finally opened with a ding and several employees scrambled out of his way as he entered. He watched the descending numbers in silence as he considered the social implications of his divorce. Undoubtedly there would be several wives of CEOs showing their incredible concern for his welfare and his daughter's by sending gift baskets, homemade food, and occasionally the single daughter his way. He'd make sure to inform Jaken to deal with all unnecessary annoyances like that.

He exited on the ground floor and entered his awaiting limousine.

"Mr. Inutaisho, the office called and I told them we were on our way. They side the CEO wanted to talk about—," Jaken began.

"No, go to St. Mary's," Sesshomaru cut him off.

"Wha—,"

"My daughter will be getting out of school shortly,"

"But I can send another car to--," Jaken stammered. His green eyes stared confused at his boss's reflection in the rearview mirror. Sesshomaru turned to glare back at his aid's questioning eyes.

"Ye-yes sir,"

Sesshomaru turned back to watching the scenery flow past.

His _daughter_. He used the term loosely. He very much doubted that the child was actually he's. Kagura's notorious amusements left little doubt in his mind about that. Besides the child was nothing like him physically or mentally. She did not carry any of the physical attributes that were inherited in his family line. He supposed he could have pawned the child off onto Kagura but he knew that Kagura would have insisted that the girl keep her father's name. It was a bargaining piece he would never allow Kagura to have. Moreover if the child was going to carry _his_ name then _he_ would decide her future.

The limousine pulled along the sidewalk then came to stop. The private elementary school had just left out. There was a yellow school bus with teacher's aids shuffling students on while the school's sidewalk was filled with other limousines and cars. Small children in matching uniforms ran about the grassy areas in front of the school building.

"I'll go get Rin, Mr. Inustaisho," Jaken scrambled out of the driver's seat.

Sesshomaru stared out the limousine's window. Though there were many young children running around in blue and white plaid uniforms his golden eyes were able to find the one child he was looking for. The other parents would say she only stood out to him because he was her father and he knew her every movement.

Sesshomaru snorted. Hardly.

The child always had the unique ability to draw attention to herself whether it was because of that ridiculous side ponytail or that goofy smile or the little nonsense songs she make-up. She always managed to stand out.

At the moment she was parading around in a large muddy puddle, stamping her feet, splashing her nearest companions who would shriek and runaway to only return again. Her chestnut brown eyes were bright with excitement, her face flushed from the heat, and her breaths came in short eager gasps as her shiny black shoes and white socks became soaked and stained with dirty water.

Suddenly Jaken entered the picture squawking and flapping his arms about at the girl while looking nothing more than an enraged turkey. The other children fled from the deranged looking man who lectured at Rin loudly. Rin waited calmly for Jaken's outburst to finish with an innocent look that only a child could have while standing in a muddy puddle. She smiled and responded to whatever Jaken had said then continued to dance about the puddle. The dirty water splashed across his leather shoes and dark trousers. Jaken's face flushed red and he started after the child. Rin dodged his reaching hands and ran towards the waiting limousine. She slowed to a skip as she reached the black car and opened the door.

Her leg froze over the doorway as her brown eyes met golden ones.

It was only for a moment before she blinked and entered the rest of the way in. It seemed Jaken had not told her he would be in the car. He studied the child as she swung her legs back and forth while peering out the window. Her black hair was grown half way down her back and her chestnut brown eyes were widen and expressive and though her skin was fair it was not nearly the pale color of his.

No, he very much doubted that she was his child. Nevertheless, she belonged to him.

"Rin," he said.

"Hmm," the child swung her head around her humming dying in her throat though her legs continued to swing.

"Your mother has left now. She won't be back," he stated coolly. His golden eyes studied her.

Her legs stopped swinging and her mouth formed a soundless 'o', her brown eyes not wavering from his golden ones. Then she blinked and her legs continued to swing again as her gaze wandered back to the window.

Sesshomaru couldn't say he was too surprised by the child's unresponsive reaction after all it wasn't like Kagura had been a leading light in the girl's life. Besides, the girl had been briefed on what a 'divorce' was by his step-mother and Jaken. She understood that her mother would not be returning.

Jaken opened the driver's door and slid into the car muttering curses to himself as he tried to straighten out his rumpled pants. He turned the engine on and started to drive off.

Sesshomaru's golden gaze wandered away from the child to the passing scenery.

"Do you think she'll come to visit?" Rin's small voice broke the silence.

Sesshomaru turned away from the window to look at her. Her face was pressed against the window and her eyes steadily watched the retreating buildings and cars, her legs swinging in motion.

"That is a question you must ask her," he said.

Rin said nothing but hummed her song and stared out the window.


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